Gillian Rennie, in an award-winning profile, quoted a co-worker as saying, "She is not like other retired people, getting a pension and saying, 'Let me play golf and fish a bit.'
"[4] She was a member of the Bafokeng, specifically the Mahoona clan – traditional healers who are one of the first agro-pastoralists to arrive in Lesotho.
Most of their abundant arable land and livestock, however, had disappeared by the 1990s, owing largely to the apartheid government's Homelands policy.
Although it has been suggested, not least by Arnold Stofile (to whom Mbeki gave her religion), that she venture into politics, she has never been especially enamoured with the idea.
President Jacob Zuma never attended due to the health situation but he announced that all flags in the province to be flown half-mast as from 7 June until the burial day.
[4] She was also awarded the Order of the Baobab in 2006 for her "exceptional contribution to the economic upliftment of the underprivileged communities of the Eastern Cape and her commitment to the fight against apartheid.